A man holding $50 bills. (Credit: Envato)
Officers from the airport inspection brigade at Beirut's airport seized $40,000 in counterfeit U.S. bills hidden in the lining of a traveler's shorts on Tuesday, the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said Wednesday in a statement.
The traveler, M.S., born in 1985 and an Egyptian national, was accompanied by a compatriot, M.M., born in 1984. They were about to board a flight to Cairo when security agents noticed the unusual detail in their clothes.
When questioned, the main suspect said he had come to Lebanon to be paid by a Lebanese associate with whom he had conducted business, claiming that the latter sent him the bills at his hotel and that he did not know they were counterfeit. His traveling companion denied any involvement, stating that he had come to Beirut to start a business.
The counterfeit bills were handed over to the financial crime unit, and the money laundering case was assigned to the judicial police. Both men remain in custody pending further investigation.
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